The Fire Princess and Her Son
by JustJos16
Summary: During her exile, Ursa tells a young girl of what was, what is, and what she hopes will be. Three-shot.
1. The Legend

**Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender**

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"Auntie, Auntie, tell me a story!! Please!"

The woman smiled gently, her amber eyes shining faintly. "You will have to tell me which one you want, San-San."

The little girl that she was addressing jumped up and down eagerly, her two long brown braids bouncing with her. "The one about the Fire Prince and his Princess!"

The woman grimaced, and a cloud of sadness veiled her eyes. "Now is not a good night, little one," she said softly. "Besides, you've heard that one ten times already." Indeed, it was not a good night for her to tell the little girl that particular story. Her heartache was especially strong that night. "I will tell you another one instead."

"About what?" San-San asked curiously.

"Let me think…" the woman closed her eyes in sad reminiscence. She had to think of another story about her other life, the one that she left behind in the Fire Nation- her life as Princess Ursa, mother of Prince Zuko and Princess Azula, and the wife of Prince Ozai, who had grown from a devoted husband to a power-hungry monster who wanted to be Fire Lord. No- the pain was too great to bear that night.

"I will tell you what happened after the Fire Prince and the Fire Princess married," Ursa replied levelly. "I will tell you about the Fire Princess and her son."

"All right, Auntie," San-San said dejectedly as she crawled onto Ursa's lap. The former Princess felt her heart wince as she held the small child on her lap; the little girl she was now holding reminded her starkly of her children, especially Zuko.

To San-San, Ursa was Auntie, the woman that came to watch her when her parents were away. To her, she was just an ordinary woman living in the Fire Nation colony that used to belong to the Earth Kingdom. She was unaware of the fact that the woman carrying her used to be the highest ranking woman in the Fire Nation; she was too young to understand.

Ursa began her story. "Now as you know, long ago, before the war started, there was a Fire Prince and he fell in love with a woman-"

"And they married and lived happily ever after!" San-San enthusiastically chimed in.

Ursa smiled. "Yes, they did, at first."

"You mean something bad happened?"

"Let me tell the story," she chided lightly. "Soon after the Fire Prince and the Fire Princess were married, the Princess gave birth to a son, and she named him Huo Long. Shortly afterward, she gave birth to a daughter, and she named her Huo Lan.

"Now, the Princess loved both of her children, but she loved her son especially." Ursa was not going to lie; she had to admit that she devoted more attention to Zuko than to Azula. "She raised him with a loving hand, and the two of them, mother and son, were inseparable. When he came running to her with news of his progress on firebending, she congratulated him heartily. When he struggled and became frustrated, she was always there to encourage him. She did everything in her power to be a good mother to him.

"But, unfortunately, the Fire Prince was not as fond of his son. He often criticized and degraded him. There was another thing: He was the second son, second in line to the throne. Although it was likely that he would never sit on the throne, he still wanted it. He wanted it so much that he was willing to do anything to get it. And so, one day, he gathered up enough courage to ask his father, who was Fire Lord at that time, to make him the heir. His elder brother, the Crown Prince Kuji, had just lost his only child."

"Why did the Prince want to be Fire Lord so much?" San-San asked in confusion.

Ursa sighed sadly. "Because he wanted the power; he wanted it so much that it drove him mad."

San-San nodded slowly, her eyes wide with wonder. "So what happened next?"

"The Fire Lord was furious at the Prince, so furious that he ordered the Prince to kill his own son so that he would know what it was like to lose a child."

"He is mean!" San-San gasped.

The former Fire Princess fought back her tears as she murmured, "Yes, he was. And to make things worse, the Fire Prince actually intended to kill his only son to please his father! The Fire Princess would not stand for it; she loved her son too much to just stand by and let her husband get away with his insane intentions. She was going to protect her son at all costs. So she confronted him, and concocted a plan, a very treasonous plan- one that would result in the Fire Lord dying and he becoming the Fire Lord. In return, she made him promise that her son would live. However, she had to pay a high price for what she did." At this, she paused, swallowing her tears.

"She died?!" Now tears were swimming in the seven-year-old girl's eyes.

Ursa managed to smile a small smile. "No. Instead, she was banished from her home. She would never be able to live in the Fire Nation and see her children grow. Though she gladly accepted her exile, she was still heartbroken at the thought of never being able to see her son again."

"But that can't be how it ended!" San-San insisted. "There has to be a happy ending! There is, isn't there?"

Now Ursa had to take a moment and think of a way to end her story. Finally, she answered, "Unfortunately, that is where the story ends. Nobody knows what happened afterward; the rest of the story has been lost. Remember, this all took place a long time ago. The most important point about this story is that the mother loved her child so much that she was willing to do anything for him."

"But what do you think happened?" San-San challenged.

She smiled as she replied, "Well, I would like to think that the Fire Princess got to go back home and reunite with her son, when he became the Fire Lord. Now, that is a happy ending right there, isn't it?" It was a happy ending that had yet to be written; it was the happy ending that she hoped and prayed for every single night that she had been exiled.

The little girl yawned and nodded happily. Ursa picked her up and tucked her in. "I do believe that it is time for you to go to bed." San-San's eyes closed and she let out a deep sigh.

Believing that she was asleep, Ursa turned to walk out of the room. Suddenly, she heard a sleepy voice say, "So no matter what happened, did the Princess get to live happily ever after?"

"Yes." Her eyes sparkled with tears. "She got to have her happy ending after all." _Or- should I say- she will, once she has seen her son again._

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AN- Well, since Ursa's story was supposed to be a "legend", she had to make up some names to replace the names of her actual family. "Huo Long" is the name I made up for Zuko, and although my translation might not be correct, it's supposed to be the pinyin pronunciation for "dragon" in Chinese. Likewise, "Huo Lan", the name for Azula, is supposed to mean "blue fire".

**Most likely this will be a three-shot. Please review and let me know what you think! I'm willing to take any constructive criticism that you might have. And, as always, thanks for reading!**


	2. Waiting

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

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The rain lashed against the window, and a great deafening clap of thunder clanged in Ursa's ears. The toddler in her arms whimpered.

"Shhh…" she cooed, "it's going to be all right, Ping; it's only a storm." She rocked the child back and forth, humming a soft lullaby. It seemed to be an eternity when she had last sung the lullaby to Azula in an attempt to get her to sleep. Yet the melody came easily to her, as fresh in her memory as if she had rocked her precious daughter in her arms just yesterday, even though it had now been twelve long years.

She wondered what Azula looked like now; by now she would be a lovely young lady of fourteen, and surely her father would be looking for potential suitors for her hand. Ursa wondered if Azula would ever be capable of loving someone, or if there would be anyone willing to marry her if she wasn't the Princess of the Fire Nation. She hated to admit it, but her daughter had always shown an unusually cruel streak, taking after her father. She had hoped to soften this streak, but Fate had torn her away when Azula was much too young, and surely, without her gentle influence and only her father to look up to, that cruel streak had only intensified. She had heard unpleasant rumors about her daughter in the colony.

Even more disturbing were the rumors surrounding her son. She remembered starkly the day when she first heard of her son's exile. She had been in the market, gathering vegetables for her evening meal, when she overheard the vendor say to another, "So the Fire Lord has banished the heir to the throne? Who will rule after him then?"

"I suppose his daughter will," the other vendor, a fisherman replied.

"I beg your pardon for intruding," Ursa said quickly, "but what has happened to the Prince Zuko?"

"He has been banished from the Fire Nation, sent to capture the Avatar. Only then will his father allow him to return with honor. It's a futile search; everyone knows that the Avatar disappeared a hundred years ago."

Ursa fought the tears that rose in her throat. "Pray, indulge a stranger's curiosity, but what happened?"

"According to my sources, the Prince showed his father great disrespect, and his father challenged him to an Agni Kai. But the Prince refused to fight him, and so the Fire Lord punished him by burning one of his eyes." Ursa gave a little cry and clapped her hand to her mouth in shock. "Then the Fire Lord said that the Prince Zuko had shown shame in refusing to duel with him, and so he sent him away, saying that the only way he could restore his honor is by capturing the Avatar and bringing him to the Fire Nation."

Ursa pressed her nails into her palm, trying to still the anger now boiling within her. _If only I could get my hands on that monster!_ she mentally raged. _I would make him pay! _Just as she feared, with her gone, her husband found some excuse to take out some of his anger and cruelty on her beloved son. But she never expected that he would go so far as to banish him, just as he had banished her. All her efforts to protect him had been in vain. _But at least he's still alive,_ she thought ruefully. _He may yet return to his rightful place on the throne…_

"The General Iroh accompanies him," the vendor added.

Ursa let out a sigh of relief. _At least I know that I can trust Iroh to watch over him like his own son. Perhaps his influence will soothe the hurt that my husband has instilled…_

And so Ursa waited, waited to see what the future held for her country, what it held for her son, and most of all, what it held for her. She knew that if her daughter were to become the ruler of the Fire Nation, she would never return home again. Yet if her son were to become Fire Lord, then surely he would search for her, and welcome her back with open arms. If he believed that she was still alive. She didn't know how Ozai would explain her absence, and so she couldn't be sure what would happen. What if Zuko believed her dead and never came looking for her? What if he never ascended the throne?

Yet she had to have faith that in the end, everything would turn out as it should. After all, the Avatar has reappeared when the world believed him dead for a hundred years. If that miracle had happened, then perhaps another would happen, and she would be reunited with her son and see her homeland once again.

So Ursa waited, and bided her time. It had now been four years since she had told San-San her story. Now the girl had grown up to be a beautiful girl of eleven years old, and her services were no longer needed. She now looked after Ping, another child of a family that had migrated to the colony from the Fire Nation. They had never suspected her true identity, and she had seen no need to enlighten them.

The next day, she went to the market to gather fresh fruits and vegetables, as usual. As she gathered mangoes, Ping's favorite, and Zuko's too, the vendor greeted her. "A fine day, is it not, Sakura?"

"Yes, it is, Basho," she replied, tilting her head in acknowledgment. "Any news from the Fire Nation?"

"Yes, the Prince and the General Iroh have now been declared traitors, and a great reward has been promised for anyone who captures them and turns them in."

Ursa felt her heart fall. "What have they done?"

"Iroh has committed an act of treason during the failed Siege of the North. The Fire Lord blames him for the failure. And Zuko had captured the Avatar, only to let him go free. In his mind, his failure is also an act of treason."

"Have there been any signs of them?" she anxiously asked, silently praying that they had not been found yet.

"No, but soldiers are searching everywhere as we speak," Basho replied. "I hope that they are captured soon."

Ursa's eyes flashed. "Surely you don't believe the rumors that they are truly traitors? They can't possibly have committed such an act!"

Basho flinched a little at her anger. "Like it or not, they most certainly did. My sources are extremely reliable."

"Well then, you better check your sources. I find it hard to believe that they are truly traitors. They don't deserve to be; otherwise, the definition of 'traitor' has surely changed these days." Secretly, she was glad that the Avatar managed to escape. She didn't approve of her son having to chase after him, and prayed that he would soon see that his task went against the order of all that was right in the world. Although she knew it was foolish, she couldn't help but hope that her son would soon join the Avatar and fight against the Fire Nation, her beloved country which had overstepped its bounds and sought to upset the balance of the Four Nations in the world.

So once again, she had to wait. Wait to see what would happen. She would have to wait to see if her hopes, as feeble as they appeared to be, would come true. She hoped that she would not have to wait much longer.

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**And so, after two years, I've finally decided to update this one! The last chapter will be out soon! Thanks for reading, and, as always, please leave a review and let me know what you think! :)**


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